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Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. SUSQ investors should be aware of an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with SUSQ positions at the end of the previous quarter.

To the average investor, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to track their holdings. Two of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. There are plenty of incentives for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ).

What have hedge funds been doing with Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ)?

At year’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 10% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the most valuable position in Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ). Fisher Asset Management has a $47 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $25 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Consequently, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, created the most outsized position in Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ). SAC Capital Advisors had 0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter.

Insider trading activity in Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Susquehanna Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SUSQ). These stocks are Fulton Financial Corp (NASDAQ:FULT), Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS), Valley National Bancorp (NYSE:VLY), National Penn Bancshares (NASDAQ:NPBC), and Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY). This group of stocks are the members of the regional – northeast banks industry and their market caps are similar to SUSQ’s market cap.